


Hang Me Up to Dry

by quietbun



Series: Mutant Batfam AU [1]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Drug Use, Friendship, M/M, Memory Loss, Mutant Powers, Pre-New 52, Rehabilitation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-18 08:32:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9376880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietbun/pseuds/quietbun
Summary: When Jason happens to be state side training with another teacher Talia set up, he runs into someone from a past life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wondered what it would be like if Jason helped Roy get clean and not Dinah and Hal. So this happened. 
> 
> also Star City = LA
> 
> Quick primer on the au Jason has super strength, and developed a healing/regeneration as second mutation when he died. Which resurrected him.  
> Roy's mutation allows him to build things that shouldn't technically be possible. 
> 
> read more here. (http://hellamathcat.tumblr.com/post/154390798955/dc-au-mutant-batfam)

Star City was a shithole, but in a different way than Gotham was a shithole. Star City was where you went to make it big, and where you died of an overdose in swimming pool fifteen years later. A sprawling southern California city and the center of the nation’s film and television industry. Where Gotham had endless families of organized crime and psychopaths in masks, Star City just had crime, plain and simple. Gang bangers and Pushes ruled the city while the rich movie stars snorted cocaine in their beach homes and pretended the world didn’t exist outside of Star Hills.

The air reeked of pollution and sweat, and something left sitting out in the sun for too long. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a homeless person or an aspiring actor. Jason didn’t know if he would burn Gotham or Star City down first if he had the chance, at least Star City had beaches so you could at least pretend it was pretty Gotham didn't even have that. He was only here on business, he never would have set foot in the hole otherwise, learning how to make poisons and toxins from a cruel Chinese woman who doubled as a heroin supplier. (Another pointless errand from Talia.)

He was sprawling out on the couch watching some Spanish soap opera that he had gotten invested into while he waited for Soo to return, when he caught the tail-end of a conversation between two thugs who ran the streets for Soo, selling her product. In other words— scumbag drug dealers. They were both Mexican like him, one with a close shaved head and a tacky goatee, and the other was decked out in gang tattoos, including a tasteful teardrop inked onto his cheekbone.

“If we're short again this month, she’s going to kill us.”

“Relax. We just need to find Harper. He’s gotta be itching for his fix by now.”

“Haven’t seen him in a while. Maybe he finally ate it.”

“I hope not. He's a piece of shit, but he’s a regular.”

They whispered to each other in hushed Spanish— as if they thought because he was from Gotham he couldn’t understand them. The chatter was nothing interesting, but the name caught Jason’s attention. It was a name from a past life, a lazy grin, messy red hair, memories fleeting behind his eyes like a forgotten song. A person, he’d actually remembered a  _ person _ , that almost never happened.

“Hola,” He greeted, stormy eyes bright and intense as he stood up and gave the two gangsters a casual grin. “Who’s Harper?” He asked in Spanish. They gave each other uneasy looks, unsure of what to do when cornered by an eighteen-year-old who looked ready to snap either of their necks.

“He’s just some white trash junkie. He’s a regular, but he hasn’t been seen for a while.” Jason cracked his knuckles and tried not to think about it, a mysterious someone slumped over a table, blood running down their nose with the needle still in the other hand.

“Can’t be a good business practice to off your regulars, but I guess that can’t be helped when you’re dealing drugs.” He mused to himself. After a month of working with Soo, it was clear that heroin was the deadliest thing she created. “What’s he look like? This Harper guy.”

“Like every other junkie living on the street. Why do you care kid?”

Jason whipped out his gun from the waistband of his pants and pointed it evenly at the first man’s chest without ever looking away. “Just answer the fucking question before I get mad.” He growled, finger tapping the trigger lightly. The one with the goatee responded by pulling out his gun, and snarling something at Jason. But the tattooed one just gave Jay a funny look.

“Hey hey— Whoa. Easy ese.” The tattooed guy said, raising both hands in the universal sign of ‘Don’t Shoot.’ “His name is Roy Harper I think, pasty, gangly sonovabitch with long red hair and usually wearing some stupid trucker hat.”

“I hear he’s a mutant.”

“Used to be one of those fucking superhero types, I heard, but now look at him. No better than the rest of us.” He scoffed, but Jason had stopped listening. Words weren’t his strong suit but Roy, that sounded right. So he had known… one of those hero types? How the hell? Had he really been in deep enough shit as a kid to get mixed up with capes?

Talia had told him not to go looking for his past. And she was right, it didn’t matter anymore, his past was just a distraction. But the opportunity was right there. What if this Roy had been his friend? And now he was hooked on some bad stuff. These guys said he was a regular, and if anyone knew what that looked like it was the sellers. Jason mulled this information over, chewing on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully before he finally made a decision. He slid his gun back into his waistband and gave the two of them a cheeky salute, tapping two fingers to his temple and then extending the hand towards them.

“Well, that’s all I need to know. Thanks a million you guys.”

Jason had learned (remembered?) a long time ago that if you wanted to find a junkie the best place to look was Chinatown, so that was his first stop. He wasn’t sure what was really driving him to find Roy, god knows he had more important things on his plate than some barely remembered junkie, but Jason had so few shreds of his old life left to him. No matter who he is, this Roy deserved better than dying alone in the gutter.

Anger boiled inside of him, as he swerved through lanes of Star City traffic in his motorcycle.

_Just like home_ he thought bitterly pulling the hood of his sweatshirt up. Every big city in the world had their ‘bad parts of town’ and they were all pretty much the same, and no matter how hard he had tried he had never escaped — not really. He had made sure to park in the more touristy area because he wasn’t a complete dumbass and he didn’t want his bike stolen. From there he looked for the shadier areas, back alleys and rundown shops and the like. If you knew what to look for picking a drug dealer in a crowded street no problem. He watched a hooded man make a sale, palming off cash for a packet of white powder before he approached.

“You sellin’ smack?” He asked in a hushed voice, making a show of looking paranoid, and glancing around.

“Aren’t you a little young for H kid?” Great, a drug dealer with a conscience. Not where he expected a morality lecture.

“Who cares?” He snapped, crossing his arms. “If you’re too high and mighty to sell to a “kid” like me I’ll just go find someone else.”

“Hey, slow down it’s not like that. You have the money?” Jason reached into his pocket, then to his other and winced.

“Shit.”

“Sorry kid, you don’t have the cash you’re shit out of luck.”

“Please man! I just gotta find a buddy of mine, you know a guy named Roy Harper? He owes me big time, once I find him I’ll be able to pay the rest. Maybe you could float me until then?”

“No way in hell mijo, but if you want to get that money you’re owed be my guest. I know Harper and there’s a loft just south of here— old brick building where he and a couple’a other junkies go to shoot up. You go get your money and I’ll be right here.” Jason looked pained, ran a hand across his brow, where he didn’t even have to pretend to be sweating since it was hot as hell outside.

“Fine. Fuck you man.” He snapped, stalking off in the direction he had been pointed. The act dropped but his scowl didn’t. Shit. What the hell was he getting into. He shouldn’t care about some random ass junkie he didn’t even know anymore. So why did he anyway? Maybe he wanted to be the good guy for once. Maybe because he knew what it was like to die alone.

Either way he didn’t stop, not until he was in front of the boarded-up brick building and forcing the door open. There was probably a secret entrance people used, but when you had super strength you don’t need a secret entrance. The smell of garbage, mold, and piss hit him and he groaned out loud. Yep, just like home, he thought as he pulled his shirt up over his nose, and flicked on the flashlight on his phone. He had stayed in places like this, he remembered that now. Jason had suspected he was from the street for a while now and this was only confirming it. Honestly he wasn’t surprised; how could anyone forget a smell like that, how it clung to you wherever you went, filling your senses and suffocating you.

Jason picked his way through the building carefully. From what he could tell it was an old department store, leaking pipes drooping from the ceiling and half assembled mannequins watching him with their painted on eyes and Jason didn’t care for that shit at all. The dealer had said they shot up in the loft, so finding the first floor empty wasn’t surprising. He moved towards the stairs, his gaze sweeping across the empty room with what some might call paranoia. He just wasn’t a fan of dolls, mannequins, or bugs and could you blame him? No.

He was staring at a large black blob on one of the mannequins naked bodies trying to determine if it was a gargantuan cockroach or not when he stumbled on a disembodied mannequin head with a loud crash as he swore and grabbed the closest thing next to him. Which was a portion of the rotted wooden staircase, which he easily tore off as he fell.

“Fuck! Fuck shit son of a piss fucking bitch—“ He seethed, throwing the ruined wood to ground and jumping to his feet. Well if anyone thought they were alone in this building they sure as hell didn’t anymore. He was immensely grateful that no one had been there to see that as he brushed himself off and tried to calm down. “Okay, there was my heart attack of the day. Let’s not do this again.” He muttered to himself, shaking his head. He climbed the stairs, scanned the second floor before continuing upward. The building had five stories, and when he did finally get to the top floor he knew this was the right place. Tables were set up set up and littered with old Chinese food boxes and other garbage, with a couple of lamps scattered about, connected to long orange power strips that ran around the whole room. There was a shitty couch pushed up against the wall. It was clearly the place the dealer had been talking about, but it was empty, and judging by the smell of that take out, no one had been back here in days

“Damnit.” He hissed, climbing out onto the fire escape, unable to bear the smell any longer. The sun had set by now but it was still hot, street lights lighting up the city just as well as the sun. He took a moment to clear his head and think about where else he could look, probably the shelters, ask some other junkies if they knew Roy. When he stepped off the metal and landed in the road below he heard a low groan from behind a pile of trash and a couple of garbage cans.

“Unnnn…” Jason kicked the cans out of the way and the person who had been hiding behind it flinched backwards. Jason got a look at him from the light thrown down the alley by a passing car. He was scrawny, and dressed in a shitty tank top and tucker hat, with long red hair and green tattoos decorating his biceps.

“Roy.” He breathed out. Holy shit. Just seeing the guy’s face was bringing a burst of memories, if only scraps. Roy’s grin, his jawline when it was shaved, his laugh, Jason’s pulse racing at the sight of his arms…

Oh, god, oh god. Roy had been. His crush. Well, that answered the question of if dying had made him gay.

"Please tell me you're here to kill me,” present Roy moaned. This Roy was hardly recognizable from the snapshots remembered. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who had been to hell in these last few years.

“Nope. Sorry.” He reached out a hand to help Roy up, but he smacked it away.

“Fuck.” Roy swore vehemently, “If you’re not going to kill me then get me some goddamn drugs.” He whispered, his voice hoarse, his chapped lips cracking and bleeding. “Please, please please please. Common man, I’m dying here. I’ll do anything.” Jason grit his teeth and this time just fucking grabbed Roy.

“Not gonna do that either. Come on.”

“Get off me man! Let me go!” Roy snarled.

“I’m trying to save your life asshole!” Jason yelled back, shaking Roy violently, and sending him cross eyed.

“Fuck, oh fuck. Ouch it hurts, it hurts it hurts!” He sobbed, gripping his stomach and falling to his  knees in pain. As he pulled Roy up once more another car drove past, once again casting it’s headlights down the alley and illuminating the them. Roy went pale and stumbled backwards.

“You’re—!!” He choked out, staring up at Jason in shock. “You’re supposed to be dead. No this isn't real, you’re dead.” He insisted to himself. Jason didn’t argue with him on that front, he was clearly going through withdrawal and right now Jason’s priority was to get him off the street. He picked Roy up easily, the guy was thin as a rail and even without super strength Jason probably still would have been able to lift him like he weighed nothing.

“Jason…? Jason I’m sorry.” Roy was babbling, clinging to the fabric of Jason’s sweatshirt desperately and he chewed on the inside of his cheek. This was a bad idea. If Roy ended up telling everyone he was alive that would really throw a wrench in things. Roy probably knew other mask types  and that was a group he did not want up in his business.

“I don’t know who Jason is man, my name is Peter Reyes.” The lie felt wrong on his lips but it’s what he had to do. Better to let the world think he was still dead.

“Oh…”

“I think you’re going through withdrawal. How do you feel?”

“Cold, Shit— Ahn my gut is on fire.” He grimaced, and Jason nodded. All symptoms of heroin withdrawal.

“Alright, I’m gonna get you some place safe. Hold tight buddy.” He adjusted Roy on his shoulder, hoping the man wouldn’t throw up on his hoodie and walked south until he found a shitty motel. He helped Roy lean against the outside of the front desk and gave him a stern look.

“Wait here okay. I’m gonna get us a room.” Roy didn’t answer, instead he doubled over in pain his shoulders shuddering as tremors ran through his body.

The woman at the front desk didn’t even blink as she handed Jason the room key, and Jason figured she had seen a hell of lot weirder things. He dragged Roy up to room and to the bathroom, helping him kneel over to toilet as he began to wretch, holding his greasy hair out of his face.

Deja-vu made his head spin, the feeling like he’d been in this exact same situation before and when he looked down it wasn’t Roy puking into the shitty hotel toilet it was… some woman, with messy hair dyed bright red and smeared makeup. She looked like she had been crying, and looking at her made Jason feel angry and sad at the same time. She had the same track marks up her arms that Roy did, and the look she gave Jason was a complicated mix of pity and disgust.

“Drink some water.” Jason grunted, his brain snapping back to the present, to the man before him. “You need to stay hydrated.”

“Thanks…” Roy said wearily, taking the water bottle Jason pushed into his hands. He took a few slow sips, his hands still shaking before he asked “Do I know you? You said you’re not Ja— who I thought you were so who are you? I don’t know any Peter Reyes. Did Angel send you? Because you can tell him to go fuck himself.”

“Don’t know any angel. I’m just a guy who wants to help.”

“Yeah sure, and I'm Superman. What were you doing snooping around in that place anyway?” Even going through withdrawal he was still observant as hell. Jason had a feeling that Roy was a hell of a lot smarter than he let on.

“None of your business."

“Right, whatever guess I’m in no position to argue. So why are you doing this? I assume you’re trying to help me and you’re not actually a deranged psycho killer who brought me here to rape and murder me and then leave my disfigured body in the bathtub, because right now this whole situation kind of reads like a Criminal Minds episode.” Jason snorted at that and shook his head.

“Nah, you’re not worth the trouble.”

“Wow, fuckin’ rude.” Roy’s laugh was thin but genuine and he pushed himself up a little so he was leaning against the sink. “But seriously, what do you want?”

“Nothing.”

“I saw, fuh-fuck shit… I saw you jump out of that building. You a mutant?” He grunted gratefully when Jason brought over the comforter from off the bed and let him wrap himself in it. “You know about me? You gotta… That’s- that’s why you came. You want me to build you somethin’.” So he had a tech mutation or something? Jason was lucky that he had recognized Roy’s name, the fact that he couldn’t remember the details of his mutation— or if he was a mutant wasn’t surprising.

“No. That’s not it.”

“Then what is it. Why the fuck are you doing this?”

“Maybe I was hoping that you’d, y’know… Fall in love with me.” Jason wasn’t sure why he said it, and the second he did he felt like a fucking idiot, but he smiled boyishly and owned it. Roy laughed out loud when he said it and Jason liked that laugh.

“Oh yeah, that is such bullshit.” He said, grinning as he wiped his runny nose and scratched his face. “Trust me kid you don’t want me to fall in love with you. My ex-wife can tell you that much.”

Jason just shrugged in response, sitting down in front of Roy on the hard tile floor with a sigh.

“Can I ask you something?”

Roy raised a curious eyebrow but shrugged. “Sure.”

“Who’s— Who was Jason? The person you thought I was…” There was something in Roy’s eyes that he couldn’t place— grief maybe. Over some street rat kid like him?

“He was a kid I knew…” Roy looked up at the ceiling for a moment, shifting restlessly. “He was a good kid, he was smart, god he was so smart, and he was funny and brave, like crazy brave, like run into a burning house and save the puppy brave… and he died when he was fifteen.” Jason swallowed hard and looked down at his hands. “I used to be one of those superheroes you know, running around in a mask and shit— I know right, funny huh. I knew it was dangerous but none of that had ever seemed real until he… He saved my ass when we were kids, this one time in Pasadena he pushed me out of the way of some gunfire and ended up getting his dumb ass shot.”

Jason’s side tingled, his body remembering the sensation of a bullet passing through it. “He never let me hear the end of it, always making jabs at me reminding me how I owed him my life and how he got shot for me and shit but I never got to thank him, not genuinely you know? That eats at me every day. I think if he ever saw me now, and how I ended up he would kick my ass. ‘ _ I saved your life for this? So you could become some piece of shit junkie?!’   _ but he showed us all what it really meant to be a hero. To wear the mask.” Roy shook his head to himself and Jason was shocked into silence. Was that really how he was remembered? As a hero? The thought left him shook to his very core and suddenly he couldn’t stand to hear about it anymore. He had to get away. He pushed himself up so violently it startled Roy.

“You don’t know that… Maybe he wasn’t as great as you think.” He said through his clenched jaw, his fists curled into a tight ball before he crossed the small distance to the hotel room door and slammed it behind him. He scrubbed angrily at his face, rubbing his eyes until he saw stars behind his eyelids. Then he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit up, taking a long drag and letting it burn to the filter before he even considered going back inside that room. He smoked a second cigarette before he did, slower this time his hands no longer shaking.

This was a mistake. Coming to this city was a mistake, looking for Roy was a mistake. Fuck even just leaving Talia’s protection was a mistake. He would take being a blood bag for fucking Ra’s over this feeling. It felt like it was eating him inside out, hollowing him and filling the hole with molten rock. He wanted to throw up, he wanted to start a fight, he wanted to run. He smoked another cigarette instead.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck!! He ground the cigarette out on the wall of the motel with venom (the stucco was already disgusting, another black mark wouldn’t make a difference) before he came back inside. The smell of cigarette smoke drifting in with him, clinging to his clothes and making Roy sit up straighter, his fingers itching at his arms idly.

“You good?”

“Yeah. Just needed a smoke.”

“Got one for me?”

“My last one, sorry.” It was a deadass lie and Roy knew it, but he didn’t push the issue. “I’m gonna order pizza. What do you want?”

“Pineapple, anchovies with mushroom.”

“You’re disgusting. No, fuck you we’re getting meat lovers.” The ghost of a smile played on Roy’s lips and he shrugged.

“Whatever you say bossman.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> then Cheshire shows up

Jason wrinkled up his nose in disgust when knelt down and clicked a pair of handcuffs (lifted off a local beat cop) onto Roy’s wrist, attaching the other one to the exposed radiator in the bathroom. He couldn’t tell what smelled worse, Roy who he had found in a pile of garbage on the street, or the toilet he had been throwing up in.

“At least buy me dinner first.” Roy grumbled, tugging on the cuff to test it out. If he was in his prime he could pick it in five seconds flat, but the state he was in Roy wasn’t going anywhere. No matter who they are, one thing Jason knew about junkies this far gone is that you couldn’t trust them not to go looking for another hit.

“I have, remember you just puked it all up. This is just to keep you from doing something stupid while I find someone to drag your dumb ass to rehab.” Jason replied flatly, tossing a blanket over Roy’s shivering form, and another water bottle. “You have any family I should call? Friends? You seem like a nice guy and I want you to get help, but I can’t really stick around.” Places to be clowns to kill and all that.

Roy’s laugh was hollow as he pulled the blanket over his shoulder and shrugged apathetically. ‘Course it wouldn’t be that easy. Worse comes to worse he could just tweet the Justice League “found: ex-hero. contact at xxx-xxx-xxxx”

“Yes he does. Me.” Came a silky-smooth voice from behind him and Jason jerked backwards in surprise, ripping a gun out of his waistband and whipping around to face whoever had just spoken.

The woman standing in the motel room was tall and lithe, with long black hair and a baseball cap pulled low that didn’t conceal her smirk. She moved with a cat-like elegance, and Jason knew instantly this woman was dangerous. Even though she was wearing civilian clothes he could still see the outline of a knife in her boot and on her belt, and her finger nails looked like they could claw a man’s eyes out. Jason was still reeling at how she had managed to sneak up on him; it was like she had appeared out of thin air.

“The fuck are you?” He snapped, moving to block her view of Roy where he was slumped on the bathroom floor.

“I’m that shit stain on your bathroom floor’s wife.” She replied, flexing her fingers. Her voice was casual but her body language was tense and ready for a fight.

“Bullshit.” He kicked the door shut despite Roy’s noise of protest and took an aggressive step forward.

“Funny, my father said the same thing.” There was laughter in her voice. “More importantly, who are you?” Suddenly she was behind him again, her sharp nails dragging over his shoulder painfully. “Little boy who plays with guns and has no idea what he just stepped into.” Jason tried to elbow her but she was gone again. Shit. He hadn’t even seen or heard her move. Maybe she was a speedster, although with them there was supposedly lightning and sparks involved. This lady just vanished and reappeared. Some sort of mutant then. Great.

“Listen you crazy bitch,” he growled looking around the room for wherever she had disappeared to, “I don’t give a shit who you are or what you want, but if you’re here to kill this sad sack I’m not going to— Urgh!” He was cut off when the heel of a stiletto drove itself into the small of his back, sending him flying into the hotel wall with a crash, the woman pinning him to the ground with a knife to his neck.

“And what makes you think you can do that? Hmm?” She sounded almost amused as she pushed the knife into his flesh just hard enough for a small tail of blood to trickle down. He could push her off easily, but not before she slit his throat. He would recover but that would take at least half an hour, and by then she would have already killed the poor shmuck in the bathroom. Jason probably shouldn’t care about this guy he barely remembered as much as he did, but despite everything he was the first link to Jason’s old life he’d found and it was comforting. Who knows in two hours it might be traumatizing, but for now he was dead set (har) on keeping him alive. The cut she had just made was already healing and that didn’t go unnoticed by her.

“Oh  _ now _ I see,” the woman laughed shortly, “you’re Ra’s’ pet. You’re kind of cute for a walking blood bag.” She purred, grinning playfully as she traced his cheek bone with a sharp nail.  _ Shit. She’s a member of the League of Shadows. Fuck.  _

“What does the League want with some junkie?” Jason growled, trying to control the panic that was welling up in his stomach.

“Nothing actually. This business is personal. Like I said before you pointed a gun at me, I’m that junkie’s wife.”

“Bullshit.”

“Well technically ex-wife since I dumped his ass, but the point remains.”

“So you’re here to kill your ex. That’s some fucked up black widow shit, no wonder you’re with the League.”

“Like you can talk, kid. At least I’m a private contractor.” The assassin didn’t give him time for a comeback, not that he had one, before plowing on. “I told you, I’m actually  _ not _ here to kill him, though I’m so mad at him I wish I was.”

“Missed too many anniversaries?” That made her laugh, though it was a short and bitter sound.

“You have no idea.” She stood up and turned her back to Jason which meant either she was an idiot or she really didn’t regard Jason as a threat at all. Jason pushed himself up and brushed the drywall off while he eyed her. He didn’t know most of the people who worked for the League and names were still hard for him to remember, but he could tell this woman had to be one of their top people just going by how easily she had taken him down. She could ruin everything.

“Take this as a warning to always use protection.” She said still sounding slighting amused.

“That’s not really a priority for me right now. Not much time for sex when you’re a teenage assassin— Wait. Holy shit. Harper knocked you up?” Jason looked her up and down, she didn’t  _ look _ pregnant and she looked like a lady with at least some standards so  _ that _ situation had to have happened at least before Roy started poking himself with needles.

“Yup.” She replied, looking curiously at Jason, probably wondering if he was going to attack her again. For the moment, he was thinking no.

“If you’re just here to make him pay child support, uh hate to break it to you but I don’t think he has a dollar to his name.”

“I can see that. I’m actually here to tell him to get his shit together so he can raise our child. I don’t have the time.”

“Yeah I bet being a single mom can really cut into your business as an international assassin.”  Jason replied sarcastically. How the hell did he get wrapped up in this shit? It was like a scene out of María la del Barrio. That’s a strange memory to pop up all of a sudden but Jason was struck with the sudden recollection of his mother watching some telenovela in Spanish.

He shook the thought out of his head and glared once more at the assassin.

“So you just want to slap him on the ass and tell him to get his shit together so you can leave a baby with him?”

“Well that was the plan before I saw how bad he actually got. Christ the fact that he’s even alive is a miracle. I’m going to tell him about our child and hope that that will be enough of a motivator for him to clean up his act, then I’m going to take him to rehab and once he’s clean  _ then _ I’m going to leave our baby with him.” She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned in the direction of the bathroom and Roy. “He’s a good man… He’ll be a good father.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than to Jason. Jason merely shrugged, stuffing his gun back into his pants as he finally came to the conclusion that this woman wasn’t a threat currently, and guns are virtually useless against a teleportation mutation.

“Well you know what they say. Better a junkie father than a mother in the League of Shadows.”

“Cute.” She sneered, “I wonder what you had to do convince Ra’s to let you out of whatever nasty cave he had you kept in. From what I’ve heard he’s been looking for someone with your  _ talents  _ for decades. I’m surprised you’re not in a medically induced coma, being tapped like a keg.”

Jason scratched at the dried blood on his neck where the cut had already healed. He knew she was right and it rubbed him the wrong way to admit it. So he didn’t.

“Talia has more pull with her father than you give her credit for.”

“Oh right, the daughter. Apparently, she’s as obsessive as her father. A certain…  _ Bat _ I hear?”  The words triggered something in Jason’s mind, a memory like a word on the tip of his tongue that he couldn’t quite figure out. The more he tried to think about it, the harder his head began to hurt— like twisting a knife in a wound.

He hissed in pain and shook his head. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but you know an awful lot for some assassin.” Bat? Talia’s son Damian, the brat he spent most of the time he was healing with was named Damian ibn al Xuff'asch.  _ Son of the Bat.  _ Maybe there was a real reason behind it. But that didn’t explain why it sounded so familiar.

“You don’t—  _ Oh.  _ Oh, I see _. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky, _ Talia _. _ ” She said to herself with a smirk, “I think I overestimated your role in this, little bird. You’re not so much Talia’s protégé as you are her newest project.” She clearly knew something Jason didn’t, and that really pissed him off. He already knew Talia was using him, the help she gave him didn’t come without a price, but he assumed that price was working as an assassin for the League.

“That ain’t news. Talia can’t breathe without manipulating someone. It’s what she does.” Jason retorted, doing his best to keep himself composed.

“Oh more than you know, baby bird.”

“Quit calling me that.”

“Why? Is it making you mad?” She was using a mocking, shmoopy high pitched baby-talk voice and Jason felt a vein pulsed on his forehead in irritation. This bitch was seriously getting on his nerves.

“Shut the fuck up. If you breathe of word of this to Talia or anyone in the League I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Because that worked so well the first time you tried. I’m not impressed. Don’t worry baby bird, I’ll keep your secret. You think I want anyone from the League finding out about this hot mess?” She kicked open the bathroom door, revealing Roy, who looked up at both of them in confusion.

“Jade?” He asked, shocked.

“Hi honey. I’m home.” She said in a venomous tone. Roy, to his credit didn’t look terrified so he must at least know her, because any normal person would be shitting their pants. “I met your friend. So nice of him to pick you up off the street. Must be just like old times.” Jason elbowed her, and sent her stumbling and slamming the door in Roy’s face once more.

“He doesn’t recognize me, and don’t you fucking dare tell him. I don’t need him getting involved.” He hissed in her ear.

“He’s going to be in rehab for the next eight months easy, but whatever you say kind civilian.” She retorted sarcastically, inspecting her hands to make sure she didn’t chip a nail.

“I just don’t need Harper running to every superhero on the goddamn JLA and telling them I’m not dead.”

“How do you know I won’t tell them? Or the League of  _ Shadows, _ for that matter.”

“Because you think this is too interesting. You want to see how it all plays out.”

“Hmm, got me there. But how will you make  _ sure _ , baby bird?”

His only idea was below the belt but it was all he had. “You keep quiet about who I am and I’ll keep quiet about your baby. That’s the kind of thing Talia would  _ love  _ to know, the perfect bargaining chip for when you need to keep your assassins in line.”

Jade narrowed her eyes at Jason, the playfulness disappearing from her body language entirely. She stood up straighter and looked at him like she was contemplating slitting his throat. She probably was, and she probably could. It wouldn’t kill him though. Ra’s and his people had already tested that.

“Fine. Looks like we have a deal, and you better keep it, because if a single thing happens to my baby I’ll know  _ exactly _ who to blame. Believe me, I will find a way to make sure you  _ stay _ dead.” She growled. Jason had to stop himself from saying “Please”, so instead he just nodded.

“Well, you have your baby daddy. Here’s the keys to his cuffs. I can see myself out.”

“Please do.” Her voice was frigid, but Jason was unfazed. He pushed the bathroom door open on his way out and gave Roy a short nod.

“Your wife and I talked and she's gonna take you to rehab… So I guess I’m gonna get out of here…” Roy stared up at him, before nodding slowly.

“Thank you…” He replied, breaking harshly. Every movement looked like it hurt and he was still shivering under the blanket Jason had given him. “Get better man.” He added before walking on the door of the motel, still feeling Jade’s glare on his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more about jason's memory loss and talia. (talia is a psychic in this verse and helps Jason recover from being brain dead and but also puts mental blocks on memories that might ruin her plan. for example he doesn't know he was robin or he worked with batman.)

**Author's Note:**

> Jason's has little to no memory of his old life other than what Talia has told him and the few things he remembers. Being brain dead can do that to you.


End file.
